Lottie’s not a cult leader in the teen timeline btw. It’s hard to distinguish religion from cults especially when the religion did eventually evolve into a cult, but for the sake of discussion I’m going to be referencing the period of time where Lottie was the leader of the yellowjackets and giving my thoughts on why she isn’t a cult leader
First off, Lottie has a genuine belief in the wilderness. This is demonstrated in a billion ways and isn’t contested i don’t think. Lottie’s leadership is founded in a genuine, true belief in the supernatural (which in my opinion is valid bc there was obviously something out there or at least reason to belief so), which already differs from a typical cult, which is usually founded on a faux religious front that hides manipulative intent by the leader. Im not gonna say every cult has a leader that doesn’t believe in their own religion cause its not true but its worth mentioning
Second off, Lottie never even wanted to be leader. Typically, cult leaders are cult leaders because they want control. They WANT the leadership in order to control their followers, and will go to extreme lengths for that control, and often portray themselves as the only one who can interpret what the religious figure wants. Not only did Lottie never want to be leader (which she says so verbatim), she also easily hands off her leadership Natalie. No cult leader in the history of ever has willy nilly handed off their leadership to the biggest and most outspoken opponent of their cult, because that would ruin the cult.
Third off, Lottie does not fear dissent. She has her beliefs and tries (admittedly, very hard) to get people to believe them, but she does not as leader orchestrate any sort of punishment to those who don’t believe (natalie and ben, namely, but also Shauna). Cult leaders run a tight ship, dissenters don’t just get to walk around free. Not only does Lottie not enforce any rules about belief, she goes out of her way to help the dissenters in the group (ESPECIALLY shauna). She even goes so far as to take punishment for HERSELF rather than others (letting Shauna beat her up, offering herself to be food in the event of her death). No cult leader does that shit.
Fourth off, and very crucially, Lottie has never once put herself in the position of being the only messenger of the wilderness. She constantly encourages everyone else to also listen (especially van, travis and akilah) and she listens to them, even when she doesn’t hear that same message. Cult leaders do NOT do that. Lottie has always made the religion open to everyone and had everyone’s input be valid. She even says that she partially stepped down as leader because everyone could hear the wilderness now instead of just her. Cult leaders almost 100% of the time will advocate for themselves as the only one (or occasionally ones) who can hear the wilderness. Lottie never asked for followers, she wanted equals. And that’s why she simply cant be a cult leader
Okay this is important, i am not saying she’s innocent or that the wilderness religion was actually fine and she’s blameless. She’s obviously not, and in s3 we get to see a more desperate and violent version of her than we saw in her actual leader era. This post is solely bc i know a lot abt cults and i don’t like that everyone calls her an evil cult leader because she’s not.
Lmk if anyone wants a part 2 where i explain why Shauna IS a cult leader
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